Home Daycare - Fairchild AFB,WA

I run an in home daycare and this school year I am offering a preschool readiness program at no additional cost to those enrolled in care and at thirty dollars a week for those coming just for "school." The cost is mostly for supplies. I use a weekly theme format tailored to children 18 months to three years old. In my area a child is not eligible for preschool until they are three. I teach shapes, colors, letter recognition, number recognition, and of course we also do the story time and socialization activities common to centers. I keep my ratio for daycare at seven to one in the summer and three to one in the school year. During the two hours I am offering preschool I will have a 7:1 ratio unless I can hire someone. Good luck and follow you'd gut.

It would depend on how you defined "preschool prep". What is that? What would you be doing differently? Most licensed home daycares have fairly structured daily schedules that should include a lot of the social readiness skills as well as the basics of preliteracy skills. So as a consumer I would want to see exactly what you were doing to prepare my child for preschool!

My son has attended an in-home daycare that is fabulous! Now that he is 3, we are having him attend a center-based preschool.

In my experience, the preschool is expected no matter how low or high a person charges. I have been talking with a woman online I barely know. She started out offering care for 150 per week and has lowered and lowered and lowered her price down to 80 per week and still can't get kids. She keeps complaining that even at 80 per week parents ask about her "curriculum". I don't use an extremely formal curriculum. But my kids learn how to read and they are great speakers with manners before they start school. I charge middle of the road for my area. I don't have parents asking me about my teaching because I talk about it in my ads and when I see them I offer up the info.

I think it depends on the center and the kid.

My son was in a center with lots of kids. The in-home provider next door was full. My son learned to interact with lots of kids. Sometimes well. Sometimes not. They also were very 'school' like and strict, so going to Kindergarten was actually easy for him.

My daughter goes to the in-home provider next door. She LOVES her! She's been there for most of her 4 1/2 years. She's like a family member. Up until this year she had several full time friends to play with each day. This year she was the only full time toddler. Some days it was just her and the provider while the older kids were at school. The downside to that is that she didn't get to interact with a lot of kids. The upside is that she had one-on-one attention.

She misses the cutoff for going to K this year, so she will be staying at the provider for another year. We have talked. The provider has already begun working with her on letters, numbers, writing, etc. She has started working with her on the 'Dick and Jane' type books for reading. She will have a few 4 & 5 y olds that miss the mark too. So that when it is her turn to go to K she will be right there with the kids that went to official preschool or centers.

I have two kids and I had one start in home day care and the other in a center. I made my decision on what was available in the place I lived at the time. You need to go visit (prefreably unannounced if a center - harder to do in a home) and ask for references, and ask friends in your area. As infants, I chose the home for my first because it offered a low ratio (he was often the only kid) and I really had a warm feeling for the provider. I chose a center for the second because the home daycare where I was scared me. When I got to preschool level, they were both in center or school settings, but I have seen in home that are just as good. It is all about research and your feeling. Good luck.